Wow, it's been a year already....

One year ago today we were haning out (most likely sleeping) in our hospital room at St. Luke's Hospital in Meridian, Idaho. Riley was born at 1:11am on June 1st, 2008. He weighed 7 lbs 13 oz and was 21 inches long. Today we went to the doctor for his one year appointment. He is now 23 lbs 13 oz and 31.5 inches long.

This last year has been incredible, with many ups and downs as we have never experienced before. We had Riley on June 1st. Lots of family got to come and visit the first month so we had tons of help which was amazing. I honestly don't know what I would have done without everyone. I was able to feed in the middle of the night and then hand him off to someone else for the rocking back to sleep process. Riley ate every 2 hours and nursed for about 30 minutes sometimes, so this was a life saver. I never would have gotten any sleep without you all who helped.

We had 3 months of savings in the bank that allowed me to stay home with Riley for that time. Then we had the decision to make: do I stay home or go back to work. On paper when you laid it all out, there was no way I could stay home. We looked into different childcare options and I even told my work I was coming back. But after much prayer and discussion, we decided that we wanted our children to have the experience of being raised by us and not day care. Now I am not knocking moms who go back to work. In fact, I have grown to have great respect for you. I know how stressed and tired I am after a long day, but working all day and coming home to dinner, kids and everything else - more power to ya!

With our decision for me to stay home come some financial hardship. But it was amazing how much love and support we recieved even from people we didn't know, just because we made that choice. But what we didn't know is that there was more financial hardship on the horizon. A week before Christmas, Travis was laid off from his job. We were really confused at this point. We thought that we had made the right decision and now this was being thrown in our lap. I tried again and again to get a part time job, but I never even received any phone calls for interviews. It was so amazing to watch God work in us and the people around us during this time. He provide for us again and again. People would just had us checks at church, the church put us all on the Giving Tree for Christmas and we were blessed beyond belief, we were given 20lbs of ground beef (that I just used the last of about a month ago) and so on, and so on.

April 20th, 2009 - Travis got a job! He is now employed by Church Mutual Insurance. He will be selling insurance to reglious organizations and houses of worship. He is currently in his last 2 weeks of training in Wisconsin. We currently have our mortgage under review for modification and if we can get that we can keep our house. If that is accomplished, it will almost be like none of that ever happened. Our credit score took a little hit, but we have always had amazing credit, so now it's just ok. We have learned to live more modestly and within our means.

I have to give a huge THANK YOU to my parents. For all your physical, emotional and financial support during this time. We would not have made it through without you then or even when we first moved to Idaho. We will never be able to re-pay you for all you have done. We love you so much! And to everyone else who helped us through this time, thank you from the bottom of our hearts! You will always have a special place with us.

Well, that's our year in a nut shell. All of Riley's happenings have been recorded in this blog over the last year. Feel free to browse around to see his different milestones. Here is a link to my first blog as a Mommy and Riley's birth story http://tlangfordfamily.blogspot.com/2008/06/our-blessing-from-god.html.

Now for the fun stuff! We had his birthday party on Saturday. It was so much fun having friends here to celebrate. Everyone who was there when he was born (excluding hosptial personnel) was here: my parents, Tina, my Doula Jennifer and our childbirth educator Marie. It was really special to have them all here for this special day. Thank you all for coming! Here are some pics from the day.

The ladies who taught me what I needed to know about birth! (Marie (and baby Ty) on the left and Jen on the right)

His Birthday outfit...he didn't love the hat.

Playing with Daddy at his new water table that Grammy & Papa got him.

Just eatin' cake!

Oh and I didn't blog about his first bike ride! We went to the green belt on Memorial day and took a bike ride with my parents. He was kind of indifferent. He wasn't upset, but he didn't love it. We had a lot of fun and look forward to doing it a few more times this summer.

Just a shot of me and my boy a few days ago. I love him!

Can you see his top teeth?

Here's a link to all his birthday pics and more http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2027073&id=1264244976&l=39f32ff0a2